Latest News

Canon combo powers up Perth’s Zipform

Thursday, 27 June 2013

By Print21

The first print house in Australia to install on a Canon ColorStream 3700 digital press in conjunction with a LasermaxRoll high-speed finishing line is broadening its product range and winning new work as it passes the three-million impression mark with the new high-power combo.

Perth’s Zipform, one of Western Australia’s largest digital print and mail operations, took on the ColorStream 3700 with the LasermaxRoll finishing system in March this year after deciding on the combo in September last year.

According to Richard Vaughan (pictured), the company’s digital operations manager, with the ColorStream 3700 rated at 100 metres per minute the new digital press is already over ‘a few’ million impressions since installation, and the print house is finding that the set-up’s extra capacity is opening up new market opportunities.

“We’ve already had over a few million impressions. Certainly, our capacity’s increased with this machine for sure,” says Vaughan. “It has broadened the range because the quality’s significantly better than what we had before, so we can now do some direct mail work we couldn’t do before.”

For Vaughan, the ColorStream 3700’s print quality potential has seen Zipform set a new standard for its growing direct mail work, while also allowing the business to keep a close and accurate eye on the machine’s running costs.

“You don’t have to reduce run speed to have a high-resolution of print,” he says. “From a front-end applications software point of view, the PRISMAproduction [server system] seemed to have an edge on its competitors, and offered more out of the box.

“We also use something called True Proof software, which lets us know accurately how much ink is used per job. At the end of a job we have an accurate ink usage figure, which is very important when your looking at the business’s cost structure,” he says.

Despite the print quality and capacity benefits the new combo has offered Zipform, Vaughan says that it was in fact the installation approach and support from Canon that helped the company settle on the ColorStream.

“We had to remove the existing press and put the new press in the same place, as well as use the same power, not having the luxury of running in parallel,” he says. “Canon had very good project management in place and that was what enticed me to go with them.

“We don’t have the luxury of a lot of space here, so it was a one in one out approach. Speaking with Canon, we had a bit more confidence in how it would be managed, with more of an IT focus than what the competitors were offering,” he says.

Zipform’s location in Perth places it much further away from most of Australia’s servicing hubs – many of which populate the East coast, however, with the new equipment, Vaughan says that, not only is there a local servicing team, but the machine itself allows for more in-house maintenance than other products in the market.

“I feel we’re very well supported here,” he says. “It is Canon and AGS, the local guys in Perth who support us here, and with this machine, there are more adjustments that the operator can make with the LasermaxRoll. We can change our own blades and belts. Being remote it’s important for us to stand on our own two feet as much as possible.”